Pocket lighter



L. LENFANT POCKET LIGHTER Feb. 9, 1937.

Fiied Feb. 1a, 193s u EE /NVEN TOD Lerlfanf BY M lf/L Patented Feb. '9,1937 UNITED-.STATES PATENT ori-ICE POCKET LIGHTER Louis Lcnfant, Paris,France, assigner to Cartier, Societe Anonyme, Paris, France, a companyoi' France Application February 18, 1933, Serial No. 857,374

In France May 14, 1932 Y 9Claims.

'The object of the present invention is to provide a lighter that fullysolves that problem since it occupies but a little space Whilepermitting an efficient and accurate adjustment of the ilint.

The essential feature of the lighter according to my invention lies inthe fact that the spring that pushes the iiint against the spark wheelis not disposed horizontally as in known lighters but vertically, thatis to say in a direction parallel to the head of the lighter. Saidspring acts on the flint through a pivoting bell crank lever.

According to another important feature of my invention, a removablereservoir is iitted inside the casing of the lighter, said reservoirbeing intended to receive the supply of fuel, and being provided withone or several capillary orices which permits a -continuous flow of saidfuel from said reservoir to the wick. According to an embodiment of myinvention said capillary orifice may consist of a slight clearanceprovided in the thread of the screw that closes the opening throughwhich the reservoir is lled. Said orifice might also consist of agroove.

A preferred embodiment of `my invention will be hereinafterdescribed-with reference to the accompanying drawing, given merely byWay of example, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the lighter according to my invention onthe line I-l of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of said lighter, the lid thereof being opened;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional viewof the lighter on the line 3 3 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a part sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View of the fuel reservoir removed from thelighter;

Fig. 6 is a plan View of said reservoir thus removed from the lighter;

Figs. '7 and 8 are perspective views oi the lighter with its lid closed,and its' lid open respectively.

. The lighter shown in the accompanyi drawing comprises an elongatedprismatic casing I,

closed at its upper part by a lid 2, hinged at 3 on said casing. Oncasing Ivand under the lid thereof, there is xed the horizontal plate 5supporting the tube 6 that is intended to receive the wick. Said platealso supports a 5 vertical spindle 1 on which are mounted milled wheel 8and spark wheel 9. Finally, supporting member I 0 including a horizontalguide Il for ilint I2 is also provided on said plate 5.

Inside said supporting member I dispose a 104 lever I3 pivoted about apin Il fixed on said supporting member, the end I3 of said lever I3bearing against flint I2. Said lever I3 is also provided with a lug I3hadapted to co-act with a sloping surface I5 oi a vertical rod I 6 guided15 inside supporting member I0. Said rod I6 is provided with a shoulderI'I against which is applied the end of a spiral spring I8 which iscompressed in a vertical tube I9 fixed to the casing of the lighter.Said spring is held in position by a screw 20 which is screwed into thelower part, of tube I9, and which permits by suitably screwing orunscrewing it, to modify the tension of I8.

It should be understood that under the action of said spring, rod I6 ispushed upwardly and tends through its inclined surface I5 to cause leverI3 to pivot in the direction of arrow F, in such manner as to apply endI3" of said lever against flint I2 and to produce a good contact 30 ofsaid flint and spark wheel 9. The lever I3 thus constitutes a bell cranklever, the work arm I3 of which engages and bears against the int I2 andthe power arm I3b of which is engaged and actuated by the inclinedvcamming 35 surface I5 of the spring actuated rod IB. Lever I3 is sodevised that the strength of spring I8, transmitted through the crankbell, may produce a substantially uniform pressure on the flint whateverthe state of wear and tear of said ilint may be. 'I'he ratio of leverarm I3b to lever arm I3 and the shape of the levers and of slopingsurface I5 are suitably calculated for this purpose. The adjustment ofthe compressing strength of spring I8 is made once and for all by meansof screw 20. Adjacent to tube I3, I provide inside the casing a secondtube 2l which receives a small leaf spring 22, the further end 23 ofwhich bears against a small lever 24 integral with the lid. Said lspring22 serves to open said lid, the displacement of which is limited byhinged stops 2a.

The lower part of casing i is open so as to permit introducing thereintoa small reservoir 4, intended to' contain the supply of fuel. Saidreservoir l is stopped by screw 2'5, 'and I provide either a slightclearance space between the 'threads of said screw andi-those of theopening for said screw, or oneor several lateral grooves 2B, so as tocreate capillary ducts through which the fuel ows to a pad of cotton 21,which surrounds the lower end of the wick. 'Said reservoir is given aparticular shape which can be seen in Fig. 3, so as to fit on tubes I9and 20 containing springs I8 and 22 respectively, disposed inside thecasing.

The fact that spring I8 that serves to apply 'the .'Hint against thespark wheel is disposed in thel casing of the lighter, clears the upperpart of said lighter and makes it possible to utilize a hinged lid suchas 2,*and not merely a cap not connected with the casing as in someknown lighters. Said lid is of a special cutaway shape as shown in Figs.'I and 8. It forms the three faces of a cube to wit faces a, b, c shownin solid lines in Fig. 8. Two of the faces of the cube that are missingfrom the lid, to wit faces d and e shown in dotted lines in Fig. 8 areprovided on the casing of the lighter at d1 and e1. They form a kind ofguard permitting no contact of the fingers with the spark wheel and thewick holder,.slot 88 however being provided in said faces for allowingthe milled edge of wheel 8 to project from the casing.

The fact that face d of the cube is not present on the lid furthercreates in said lid a. notch which in the open position thereof makes itpossible to easily reach guide l2 in order to replace the flint.

Finally. face a of the lid carries cap 6a intended to cover the wickcarrying tube when said lid is closed in order to prevent the wickbecoming clogged by being impregnated with combustible matter. The wickis ventilated whenever the lid is opened owing to the provision of notchc1 of the casing corresponding to face c of the lid.

While I have disclosed in the above description what I deem to be apreferred embodiment of my invention, it should be well understood thatI do not wish to be limited thereto, as there might be changes made inthe arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departingfrom the principle of my invention as comprehended within the scope ofthe appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A pocket lighter of the type described cornprising in combination, avertical casing, a horizontal plate at the top of said casing, avertical spindle carried by said plate, a spark wheel mounted on saidspindle. a milled operating wheel also mounted on said spindle andoperatively connected with said spark wheel, a flint, guiding meanscarried by said plate for holding said flint in a horizontal ,positionjuxtaposed with said spark wheel, a spiral spring vertically mounted insaid casing, a stop for the lower end of said spiral spring, a slidingrod vertically guided in said casing and resting upon the upper end ofsaid spring, a sloping surface at the upper end of said rod, and a bellcrank journalled in said casing above said plate having one arm incontact with said sloping surface and the other arm in contact with saidflint so as to hold it rmly against said spark wheel.

2. A pocket lighter embodying a spark wheel mounted for rotation, meansfor rotating said wheel, a flint, a int guide for holding the :dint injuxtaposed relation to the spark wheel, a bell crank lever mounted withits work 'arm in cooperative relation to the flint, and a spring pressedslide having an inclined camming surface bearing against the power armof said lever to force its work arm against the flint for the purpose ofholding said flint in firm frictional contact with the spark wheel.

3. A pocket lighter embodying a spark wheell mounted for rotation, meansfor rotating said wheel, a lnt, a flint guide for holding the iiint injuxtaposed relation to the uspark wheel, a bell crank lever mounted withits work arm in cooperative relation to the flint, 'and a spring pressedslide having an inclined camming surface bearing against the power armof said lever to force its work arm against the flint for the purpose ofholding said iiint in firm frictional contact with the spark wheel, saidinclined camming surface of the spring pressed slide being shaped toautomatically compensate for wearing away of the ilint whereby asubstantially uniform frictional relation exists between the spark wheeland the flint throughout the life of the latter.

4. A pocket lighter embodying a spark wheel mounted for rotation, meansfor rotating said wheel, a flint, a flint guide for holding the flint ina position to extend substantially radially from one side of the sparkwheel, a bell crank lever positioned with its work arm bearing againstthe outer end of said flint, a plunger mounted for sliding movement in adirection parallel to the axis of the spark wheel and provided with aninclined camming surface bearing against th power arm of said bell cranklever, a coil spring arranged with its axis parallel to the axis of thespark wheel and bearing against the plunger to forcev the inclinedsurface of the latter against the power arm of the lever, and therebyforce the work arm of the .lever against the flint to hold said flint into the walls of the casing, said cover being foldable into closedposition to form between the cover and the said end plate a closedcompartment, and sparking means housed within said compartment.

6. A pocket lighter comprising a casing provided near one end with anendplate and having a cover hinged to said casing along one of the sides ofsaid plate, the walls of said casing extending above said plate alongthe side thereof opposite to the hinge and one of the adjacent sides,the lateral sides of the cover being complementally cut away tocorrespond in shape to the walls of the casing,V

said cover being foldable into closed position to form between the coverand the said end plate a closed compartment, sparking means housedwithin said compartment, and elastic means tending to open the cover.

7. A pocket lighter which comprises in combination, a vertical casing, aplate at the top of said casing, a spark wheel mounted on said plate forrotation on an axis perpendicular 75 spring mounted in said casing withits axis'l in parallel relation to the height of said casing,

said spring extending lunder saidvplate, a stop for the lower end ofsaid spring`carried by said casing, and means for operatively connectingthe upper end of said spring with said flint so as to keep said int infirm frictional contact with said spark wheel.

8. A pocket lighter which comprises in combination, a vertical casing, aplate at the top of vsaid casing, a spark wheel mounted on said platefor rotation on an axis perpendicular thereto, a milled 'wheel coaxialwith and operatively connected to said spark wheel for impartingrotation to the latter, a flint, a flint guide carried by said plate forholding said illnt to extend substantially radially from one side ofsaid spark wheel and in substantially parallel relation with said plate,a spiral spring mounted in said casing under said plate in substantiallyvertical position, a stop for the lower end of said spring carried bysaid casing, and means for operatively connecting the upper ,end of saidspring with said flint so as to keep said int in lrm functional contactwith sai spark wheel. 9; A pocket lighter which comprises incombination, a vertical casing', a plate at the top of said casing, aspindle carried by said plate at right angles thereto, a spark wheelmounted on said spindle, a milled operating wheel also mounted on saidspindle under said spark wheel and operatively connected to said sparkwheel for imparting rotation thereto, a int, a int guide carried by saidplate for holding said iint to extend substantially radially from oneside of said spark wheel and in substantially parallel relation withsaid plate, a spiral spring mounted in said lcasing under said plate insubstantially vertical position, a stop for the lower end of said springcarried bysaid casing, and means for operatively connecting the upperend of said spring with said int so as to keep said int in firmfunctional contact with said sparkl Wheel.

' LOUIS LENFANT.

